Alloy Wheel Refurbishment & Alloy Wheel Repair - What To Look Out For

GENERAL CHECKS for STRUCTURAL DAMAGE In the majority of cases the first initial realisation of a potential problem is the air in the tyres keep going down, you keep putting air in every couple of days, either a slow or quick release of air over a certain time period, it might be the tyre if you are lucky, otherwise it will be the wheel. This is then followed by a trip down to the local tyre fitters who then remove the tyre and look for damage. It is usually at this stage that the fitter will inform you of a structural problem with the wheel, it is miss-shaped, has a bent rim on the inside, can not get a seal with the tyre, will not balance correctly etc. An in-ordinate amount of added weights to the wheel also indicates a problem when fitting a tyre. Lots of tyre fitters, especially large national brands also sell wheels and will guide you to buy new wheels, this is in their interests, not the customers. They will almost certainly not recommend any one else as it will be company policy to do so. • Loss of air pressure - as above • Steering wheel vibration - buckle on front wheel, check each side. • Seat vibration - buckle on rear wheel. check each side. • Steering & Seat vibration, front and back wheel may be buckled. • The majority of buckles are on the inside rim of the wheel, which is less obvious to see. • If you know your car has hit a pot hole or some obstruction, always check both wheels on the same side of the vehicle, its most likely that both front and back wheels hit the pot hole. If you have jacking equipment  on a level secure surface and can remove the wheels safely then do so. • Check each wheel rim front and back for any obvious damage, any flat spots, cracks,rim bend. • Check the tyre for any flat spots, ie the brakes may have locked up for a second on a recent hard braking, this may have worn away the rubber and caused a flat spot thus causing the wheel vibration. If the damage can be visually seen by you removing the wheel, then doing this will save you the cost of a tyre fitters time, this money can be used to send us the wheels by courier directly. AWR Common Question: Q: Will the welded structural repair be as strong as the original? A: Yes, in-fact when we are welding major structural damage, we have to be careful of not over strengthening a specific part. The wheel must be round or straight as we say. otherwise stress cracks will form almost immediately once weight pressure is applied. This is part of our specialism and why we are the best at what we do. Lots of people can weld, but we know about wheels, force reactions, welding methods and our wealth of experience is un-surpassed. SMART REPAIRS This type of repair is purely a Cosmetic Repair, usually coming to your door in a van and completing a cosmetic wheel repair there and then. This kind of repair has its uses, for a lot of people, it is a satisfactory quick fix. Process:- • They remove the wheel from car, break back the tyre bead and push back the tyre wall from the wheel face, fillers are used to flush the surface and grind back with a small machine tool to smooth the surface. • Mask up the tyre and wet spray to the required colour, then a wet spray lacquer. • All surfaces hardened with a infra red heat lamp for a short period of time. • Remove masking, blow up tyre and replace back on car. Cost average circa £60 to £80 WHEEL REPAIRERS and POWDER COATERS The majority of companies try and save money by doing some of the following:- Not • checking to see if the wheel has some structural damage before they do work. • stripping the wheel back to the base metal (full wheel) • spraying a primary base coat, before the finish colour coat. • spraying the entire wheel. Never • send a wheel to a pal down the road or a local blacksmith because they work with metal, they can surely fix wheels, right?......wrong.. • let a cosmetic wheel repairer or powder coater send a wheel to someone else, unless you are confident this other person can repair the wheel, do your research first. AWR Comments We used to wet spray when we first started out finishing wheels 20+ years ago, but we soon realised when customers were coming back all the time with rafts of problems, as we are a workshop based outfit, we can not hide or vanish, we only have our reputation, therefore we invested in the latest technology and began to powder coat, from that day on we have had next to no complaints. Best thing we ever did. Refer to our Finishing and Powder Coating pages by comparison and assess for yourself Unfortunately lots of new repairers and new franchises starting out are getting on the wet spray bandwagon, it’s relatively cheap to set up in a van with some fancy marketing etc. Take on board the comments above before committing to this type of cosmetic repair. www.AlloyWheelRepairs.net Web Design 2012 ALLOY WHEEL REFURBISHMENT & ALLOY WHEEL REPAIR SPECIALIST Copyright Ace Performance Cars - Alloy Wheel Refurbishment & Alloy Wheel Repair Specialist t:01555 841000 e:Del@AlloyWheelRepairs.NET